"there came a strange wight to our town en', an' the fient a body did him ken; he twirled na' lang, but he glided ben, wi' a weary, dreary hum.
his face did glow like the glow o' the west, when the drumly cloud had it half o'ercast; or the struggling moon when she's sair distrest. o, sirs! it was aiken-drum."
did you ever hear how a brownie came to our village of blednock, and was frightened away again by a silly young wife, who thought she was cleverer than anyone else, but who did us the worst turn that she ever did anybody in her life, when she made the queer, funny, useful little man disappear?
well, it was one november evening, in the gloaming, just when the milking was done, and before the bairns were put to bed, and everyone was standing on their doorsteps, having a crack about the bad harvest, and the turnips, and what chances there were of good prices for the stirks[26] at the martinmas fair, when the queerest humming noise started down by the river.
[26] bullocks.
it came nearer and nearer, and everyone stopped their clavers[27] and began to look down the road. and, 'deed, it was no wonder that they stared, for there, coming up the middle of the highway, was the strangest, most frightsome-looking creature that human eyes had ever seen.
[27] idle talk.
he looked like a little wee, wee man, and yet he looked almost like a beast, for he was covered with hair from head to foot, and he wore no clothing except a little kilt of green rashes which hung round his waist. his hair was matted, and his head hung forward on his breast, and he had a long blue beard, which almost touched the ground.
his legs were twisted, and knocked together as he walked, and his arms were so long that his hands trailed in the mud.
he seemed to be humming something over and over again, and, as he came near us we could just make out the words, "hae ye wark for aiken-drum?"
eh, but i can tell you the folk were scared. if it had been the evil one himself who had come to our quiet little village, i doubt if he would have caused more stir.[28] the bairns screamed, and hid their faces in their mothers' gown-tails; while the lassies, idle huzzies that they were, threw down the pails of milk, which should have been in the milkhouse long ago, if they had not been so busy gossiping; and the very dogs crept in behind their masters, whining, and hiding their tails between their legs. the grown men, who should have known better, and who were not frightened to look the wee man in the face, laughed and hooted at him.
[28] excitement.
"did ye ever see such eyes?" cried one.
"his mouth is so big, he could swallow the moon," said another.
"hech, sirs, but did ye ever see such a creature?" cried a third.
and still the poor little man went slowly up the street, crying wistfully, "hae ye wark for aiken-drum? any wark for aiken-drum?"
some of us tried to speak to him, but our tongues seemed to be tied, and the words died away on our lips, and we could only stand and watch him with frightened glances, as if we were bewitched.
old grannie duncan, the oldest, and the kindest woman in the village, was the first to come to her senses. "he may be a ghost, or a bogle, or a wraith," she said; "or he may only be a harmless brownie. it is beyond me to say; but this i know, that if he be an evil spirit, he will not dare to look on the holy book." and with that she ran into her cottage, and brought out the great leather-bound bible which aye lay on her little table by the window.
she stood on the road, and held it out, right in front of the creature, but he took no more heed of it than if it had been an old song-book, and went slowly on, with his weary cry for work.
"he's just a brownie," cried grannie duncan in triumph, "a simple, kindly brownie. i've heard tell of such folk before, and many a long day's work will they do for the people who treat them well."
gathering courage from her words, we all crowded round the wee man, and now that we were close to him, we saw that his hairy face was kind and gentle, and his tiny eyes had a merry twinkle in them.
"save us, and help us, creature!" said an old man reprovingly, "but can ye no speak, and tell us what ye want, and where ye come from?"
for answer the brownie looked all round him, and gave such a groan, that we scattered and ran in all directions, and it was full five minutes before we could pluck up our courage and go close to him again.
but grannie duncan stood her ground, like a brave old woman that she was, and it was to her that the creature spoke.
"i cannot tell thee from whence i come," he said. "'tis a nameless land, and 'tis very different from this land of thine. for there we all learn to serve, while here everyone wishes to be served. and when there is no work for us to do at home, then we sometimes set out to visit thy land, to see if there is any work which we may do there. i must seem strange to human eyes, that i know; but if thou wilt, i will stay in this place awhile. i need not that any should wait on me, for i seek neither wages, nor clothes, nor bedding. all i ask for is the corner of a barn to sleep in, and a cogful of brose set down on the floor at bedtime; and if no one meddles with me, i will be ready to help anyone who needs me. i'll gather your sheep betimes on the hill; i'll take in your harvest by moonlight. i'll sing the bairns to sleep in their cradles, and, though i doubt you'll not believe it, you'll find that the babes will love me. i'll kirn your kirns[29] for you, goodwives, and i'll bake your bread on a busy day; while, as for the men folk, they may find me useful when there is corn to thrash, or untamed colts in the stables, or when the waters are out in flood."
[29] a churn.
no one quite knew what to say in answer to the creature's strange request. it was an unheard-of thing for anyone to come and offer their services for nothing, and the men began to whisper among themselves, and to say that it was not canny, and 'twere better to have nothing to do with him.
but up spoke old grannie duncan again. "'tis but a brownie, i tell you," she repeated, "a poor, harmless brownie, and many a story have i heard in my young days about the work that a brownie can do, if he be well treated and let alone. have we not been complaining all summer about bad times, and scant wages, and a lack of workmen to work the work? and now, when a workman comes ready to your hand, ye will have none of him, just because he is not bonnie to look on."
still the men hesitated, and the silly young wenches screwed their faces, and pulled their mouths. "but, grannie," cried they, "that is all very well, but if we keep such a creature in our village, no one will come near it, and then what shall we do for sweethearts?"
"shame on ye," cried grannie impatiently, "and on all you men for encouraging the silly things in their whimsies. it's time that ye were thinking o' other things than bonnie faces and sweethearts. 'handsome is that handsome does,' is a good old saying; and what about the corn that stands rotting in the fields, an' it past hallowe'en already? i've heard that a brownie can stack a whole ten-acre field in a single night."
that settled the matter. the miller offered the creature the corner of his barn to sleep in, and grannie promised to boil the cogful of brose, and send her grandchild, wee jeannie, down with it every evening, and then we all said good-night, and went into our houses, looking over our shoulders as we did so, for fear that the strange little man was following us.
but if we were afraid of him that night, we had a very different song to sing before a week was over. whatever he was, or wherever he came from, he was the most wonderful worker that men had ever known. and the strange thing was that he did most of it at night. he had the corn safe into the stackyards, and the stacks thatched, in the clap of a hand, as the old folk say.
the village became the talk of the countryside, and folk came from all parts to see if they could catch a glimpse of our queer, hairy little visitor; but they were always unsuccessful, for he was never to be seen when one looked for him. one might go into the miller's barn twenty times a day, and twenty times a day find nothing but a heap of straw; and although the cog of brose was aye empty in the morning, no one knew when he came home, or when he supped it.
but wherever there was work to be done, whether it was a sickly bairn to be sung to, or a house to be tidied up; a kirn that would not kirn, or a batch of bread that would not rise; a flock of sheep to be gathered together on a stormy night, or a bundle to be carried home by some weary labourer; aiken-drum, as we learned to call him, always got to know of it, and appeared in the nick of time. it looked as if we had all got wishing-caps, for we had just to wish, and the work was done.
many a time, some poor mother, who had been up with a crying babe all night, would sit down with it in her lap, in front of the fire, in the morning, and fall fast asleep, and when she awoke, she would find that aiken-drum had paid her a visit, for the floor would be washed, and the dishes too, and the fire made up, and the kettle put on to boil; but the little man would have slipped away, as if he were frightened of being thanked.
the bairns were the only ones who ever saw him idle, and oh, how they loved him! in the gloaming, or when the school was out, one could see them away down in some corner by the burn[30]-side, crowding round the little dark brown figure, with its kilt of rushes, and one would hear the sound of wondrous low sweet singing, for he knew all the songs that the little ones loved.
[30] stream.
so by and by the name of aiken-drum came to be a household word amongst us, and although we so seldom saw him near at hand, we loved him like one of our ain folk.
and he might have been here still, had it not been for a silly, senseless young wife who thought she knew better than everyone else, and who took some idle notion into her empty head that it was not right to make the little man work, and give him no wage.
she dinned[31] this into our heads, morning, noon, and night, and she would not believe us when we told her that aiken-drum worked for love, and love only.
[31] impressed this upon us.
poor thing, she could not understand anyone doing that, so she made up her mind that she, at least, would do what was right, and set us all an example.
"she did not mean any harm," she said afterwards, when the miller took her to task for it; but although she might not mean to do any harm, she did plenty, as senseless folk are apt to do when they cannot bear to take other people's advice, for she took a pair of her husband's old, mouldy, worn-out breeches, and laid them down one night beside the cogful of brose.
by my faith, if the village folk had not remembered so well what aiken-drum had said about wanting no wages, they would have found something better to give him than a pair of worn-out breeks.
be that as it may, the long and the short of it was, that the dear wee man's feelings were hurt because we would not take his services for nothing, and he vanished in the night, as brownies are apt to do, so grannie duncan says, if anyone tries to pay them, and we have never seen him from that day to this, although the bairns declare that they sometimes hear him singing down by the mill, as they pass it in the gloaming, on their way home from school.
